Lost Wallet

[magicfx]

Some time ago I save my wallet to somewhere, not sure where or if it has been overwritten, deleted, destroyed. So recently bought a new external hardrive and
recovered all the files, from all of the possible places the wallet could have been stored, so from usb sticks, memory cards, old drives etc. The wallet was zipped or placed in a rar file, I think.

So  I now have 2 terrabytes of data, that i need to scan for a peice of hex code that will most likely be present in the file.

Where and how do i do this, I have a mac and a pile of data. none of the recovered zipped files have recognisable names, and there are thousands of them, so would prefer to do a complete scan of the data.

Help!

[HCP]

If it was actually compressed into a ZIP or RAR file... and not simply renamed, then you probably can't simply search for a hex code as the output from the compression will be fundamentally different from the input.

You will probably need to decompress every archive, then search the decompressed files for the "wallet.dat hex code".

This thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2857580.0 has some step-by-step stuff on how to go about looking for matching hex using WINHEX

[nc50lc]

At least sort them by "file size" and start with rar/zip files that are less than 2MB; leave out the rest for later search.

It could be as low as <100kB if you still haven't generated a lot of keys.
Or as high as 2MB it received a lot of transactions.

[bob123]

Do you remember what kind of wallet you used ?
This can play a huge role in your search.

Or - if you don't remember - do you know when you installed that wallet ?
If it is an old one, chances are high that it was bitcoin core, and that you are searching for a wallet.dat inside of the archive.

[magicfx]

Hi All,

Many thanks for the responses. The wallet is an old one, like 2010.

Just a bit of background detail, so many years ago, i bought some software and the vendor wanted bitcoin, eh! whats that!.... so we went through setting up a wallet and buying bitcoin, he wanted like 27000 bitcoin, which worked out to be like 50 quid. so set it up, sent him his bitcoin, got the software and all was well. I topped up the bitcoin and then backed everything up and zipped it away, and forgot about it until last year. I have exhausted every avenue in terms of where i thought the bitcoin could be, and these include the following :-

1) In an email - email account locked
2) on a memory stick - hid it, cannot find it
3) written in a book (the passphrase) - Dog ate book

So now I am going through all my hard drives, bit by bit and its driving me crazy, Somewhere I have, I think a lot of bitcoins. And also I did mining and other useless things
for a short while, so i am sure I will find something.

[bartekjagoda]

Some time ago I save my wallet to somewhere, not sure where or if it has been overwritten, deleted, destroyed. So recently bought a new external hardrive and
recovered all the files, from all of the possible places the wallet could have been stored, so from usb sticks, memory cards, old drives etc. The wallet was zipped or placed in a rar file, I think.

So  I now have 2 terrabytes of data, that i need to scan for a peice of hex code that will most likely be present in the file.

Where and how do i do this, I have a mac and a pile of data. none of the recovered zipped files have recognisable names, and there are thousands of them, so would prefer to do a complete scan of the data.

Help!

You can deep scan the drive for wallet.dat files or for wip keys compressed or uncompressed. You could also use different tools for scanning pricate keys on sector level

[20kevin20]

I might be wrong, but can't WinRAR open archives even if they're password protected? I believe you could see what files there are inside, but you couldn't extract/open then unless you had the password.

I'd try an open sourced free ware that scans your entire hard disk for your wallet. Docfetcher (http://docfetcher.sourceforge.net/en/index.html) is what I found to be open source, or you can try using 7Zip or WinRAR to try scanning your drives for the file (https://superuser.com/questions/326737/how-do-i-search-the-content-of-7-zip-archives-7z).

1) In an email - email account locked
2) on a memory stick - hid it, cannot find it

Meanwhile, try remembering where the memory stick is by reversing events (just take it logically and try to remember what you thought about hiding it at the time, maybe you'll remember?). What do you mean by 'email account locked'?

[bartekjagoda]

Some time ago I save my wallet to somewhere, not sure where or if it has been overwritten, deleted, destroyed. So recently bought a new external hardrive and
recovered all the files, from all of the possible places the wallet could have been stored, so from usb sticks, memory cards, old drives etc. The wallet was zipped or placed in a rar file, I think.

So  I now have 2 terrabytes of data, that i need to scan for a peice of hex code that will most likely be present in the file.

Where and how do i do this, I have a mac and a pile of data. none of the recovered zipped files have recognisable names, and there are thousands of them, so would prefer to do a complete scan of the data.

Help!

Strange, this person asked for help but never cared to login again after posting here. Seems suspicious.

[elda34b]

Strange, this person asked for help but never cared to login again after posting here. Seems suspicious.

He might be in the process of looking through all his data, or he already found it and does not want to look for help anymore though it will be interesting if he can share his stories.

[bartekjagoda]

Strange, this person asked for help but never cared to login again after posting here. Seems suspicious.

Actually it's common sight, someone ask for help then never come back after people give help or guidance. We never know whether someone :
1. simply don't bother to give thanks / say which guide works for him
2. frustrated and left because all guide doesn't work for him
3. merit farmer (asking a constructive question and hoping someone will give him merit)
4. still trying to solve the problem

I will guess #3, Merit farmer. Its such a pity.